1. Field
The present disclosure relates to multipoint communication technology through a network.
2. Discussion of Related Art
With an international spread of devices such as smartphones and tablets using a wireless network, a multimedia over Internet protocol (MoIP) service using a mobile communication network (e.g., a third generation (3G) network or a long-term evolution (LTE) network) and/or a wireless Internet network (a WiFi network) is also spreading.
A scheme of providing the MoIP service over a network is roughly classified into a peer-to-peer (P2P) scheme and a server relay scheme. The P2P scheme provides the MoIP service through a direct inter-device connection and is mainly used in point-to-point voice/video communications. The server relay scheme is one in which each device is connected to a separate server such as a multipoint conference unit (MCU) and the connected server mixes and provides voices and videos of participants and is mainly used for multipoint communication among three or more participants.
In the above-mentioned MoIP service, a scheme and a protocol for providing the service for point-to-point communications are different from those for providing the service for multipoint communications. Accordingly, when a device that performs a multipoint communication attempts, upon some participants' ending of the communication, to switch from the multipoint communication to a point-to-point communication, a disconnection may occur in a process of ending the multipoint communication and generating a separate point-to-point communication call. Thus, there is a need for a switching method of reducing disconnections when the multipoint communication is switched to the point-to-point communication.